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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26726047">The Beginning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeanxious/pseuds/princeanxious'>princeanxious</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Little Hooves [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Centaur AU, Gen, Logan and Janus are twins in this au, mentions of familial loss, parental logicality</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:55:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26726047</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeanxious/pseuds/princeanxious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"All four legs were still shaking as he sprinted through the forest. All he knew was that the trapped elder had yelled for him to run as fast as he could and to never stop or else he’d be caught."<br/>This is the first fic in the Little Hooves series following the life of Virgil, an orphaned centaur taken in by Heart &amp; Hooves Sanctuary at a very young age. This is where it all starts.<br/>(Parental Logicality, future Prinxiety in later parts of the series)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, lowkey - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Little Hooves [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Beginning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to the Little Hooves Series! Once again this au originates from my tumblr that I'm just transferring over, so heres the first fic written for the Little Hooves au! I do want to write more for this au, and have at least one more fic planned to introduce the rest of the cast, but its still up in the air about any fics past that. If people enjoy it, I'll try and write more!<br/>If you'd like some art of this au, you can find the full cast <a href="https://princeanxious.tumblr.com/post/188016188974/full-cast-of-the-little-hooves-au-colored-its">here,</a> and some shenanigans <a href="https://princeanxious.tumblr.com/post/188038944129/theyre-begging-for-caramel-apple-slices-d">here</a> and <a href="https://princeanxious.tumblr.com/post/619520533385592832/little-hooves-au-doodle-trying-to-impress-the">here!</a></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Virgil still couldn’t understand what was going on.</p>
<p>All four legs were still shaking as he sprinted through the forest. All he knew was that the trapped elder had yelled for him to run as fast as he could and to never stop or else he’d be caught. His mother had been caught a month ago, and then all he had at the time was the herd. Now the herd had been ambushed, and though he had been hidden within the brush, the rest had all been caught.</p>
<p>Now he was alone, a running and stumbling little colt in the middle of a dark forest, upper torso arms curled tight up against his chest in fright.</p>
<p>He’d been running for what felt like days, even though it’d only been a couple of hours, every time he stopped, the elders words would again ring through his head and he would hobble forward once more.</p>
<p>With no idea where he was now, he’d kept running forward, now only stumbling, really. Truly trying to ignore how much he stumbled, how much his hooves hurt, how hungry he was. But he was barely 6 years old, and his legs were giving out. He was tired, and scared!</p>
<p>
  <em>But where would he be safe?</em>
</p>
<p><br/>
Suddenly his heart stuttered as he broke out of the foliage, stumbling over an odd stone road that amplified his hooves’ discomfort. Before he knew it he’d ducked under something, only to find he’d shoved through that something, and panic overtook the tiny Friesian colt as he then couldn’t free his upper human torso nor the front half of his horse torso. <em>He was stuck!</em> He knew where he was, this was human territory! Humans were scary and mean! He’d die if he stayed here! But..</p>
<p>He was too weak to thrash, too weak to try and think, too weak to pull himself out, so... he accepted his fate.</p>
<p>He wailed.</p>
<p>And for a long time he stayed that way, the wailing cry of a lost, petrified child echoing across the field. Too shaken to hear anything but his hiccups and feel his wobbling legs, unable to collapse because he was stuck. He rubbed at his face as he sobbed, whole body shaking from full out exhaustion. He longed to be tucked up under one of the enders arm’s and hide from the scary world, and not be so frightfully alone.</p>
<p>He didn’t hear the thundering hooves rushing towards him, nor did he hear the hooves slow, and patter to a halt. It took the colt a moment to register big gentle hands cupping his wet face, wiping away tears and a soothing voice cooing to him. A different hand rubbed at his upper back, another set of bigger hands gently pulling and guiding the trembling colt through the rest of the fence.</p>
<p>Now that he was blessedly free, Virgil’s body had finally had enough, and collapsed to the ground mid-sob, sniffling. A bigger horse body settled down in front of him, cradling the little colt’s head as they cooed and sang softly the shaken little colt.</p>
<p>Was he finally safe? Virgil couldn’t be sure, but with his mind catching up to his tired body, he only hoped that these gentle hands would stay and soothe him as he rested, unable to stay awake any longer.</p>
<p>The two larger hands returned to his torso, gently picking him up and settling him against the side of the centaur comforting him. Finally, blessedly, he slept. His sleep was blank, with no dreams to accompany him in this scary night, still, when he awoke, he was not as tired as he had been before.</p>
<p>The first thing that he realized was that he was no longer outside on the soft grass, but instead inside some kind of cave. Well, it certainly was a weird cave if he’d ever seen one. Most caves that the herd ever taught him about had been made of stone, never.. wood? Plus there was weird grass everywhere! It wasn’t like home, and it smelled <em>weird!</em> It wasn’t bad, no, but still!</p>
<p>Glancing around, arms curling up tight to his chest in trepidation he wondered. Where <em>was</em> he?</p>
<p>It didn’t take long for him to notice he was tucked up against a very big centaur, of which who looked very weird. He was holding something that seemed.. open? and was looking at it, it looked <em>very</em> interesting though Virgil couldn’t understand <em>why</em>. The centaur was also wearing a few somethings. One was the color of the night sky, and it wrapped around his chest and settled around his waist, with something oddly striped tied around his neck. The most peculiar was what perched on the centaurs nose like a bird, though it did not look at all like a bird. He squinted at the odd stallion, and ducked into his hands when the stallion glanced back down at him.</p>
<p>“Good morning, young one. I am Logan. Was your sleep satisfactory?” The stallion asked.</p>
<p>Virgil blinked, tilting his head at the word as he peeked from between his fingers. “Satis..facter..ee? What does that mean..?” The stallion’s eyes lit up in understanding.</p>
<p>“Satisfactory, to mean pleasant or good. Basically, did you sleep well?” Virgil watched as the stallion placed the object he had been looking at down, and turned his full attention to the little colt. Virgil, finally understanding a bit more, nods.</p>
<p>Logan nods in return, and makes a move to stand up. Virgil stills, watching the Clydesdale stand up at his full height. With some careful shuffling, Logan moves in front of Virgil and holds out both hands.</p>
<p>“I assume you’d like to go back outside then, little one. It’ll be good to stretch your legs out after curling up so tight after the journey you took. First step, though, is to stand up. Can you do that for me?” Virgil gave a nod, reaching up to grasp the Clydesdale's hands and pull himself up. It was a slow go, Virgil wincing a bit as the soreness of running for so long was present in his legs. Slowly but surely, they got all of his legs underneath him, and slowly began their walk out of the barn, Logan walking backwards the whole way to steady the little colt.</p>
<p>Once outside, Virgil began to feel a little better, though there was still anxiety from seeing the human dens nearby. There was a long wall that trailed into the distance in two directions, it was the wall he’d gotten stuck in. Now, he was on the inside of that wall. Glancing around the open field, Virgil spotted another pair of centaurs trotting up slowly towards them. One was another almost identical Clydesdale stallion, though different in a few ways, a nice patch of color curling up the left side of the others face with two different eye colors. The other centaur was a smaller Appaloosa stallion, well, he looked smaller right next to the Clydesdale, at least.</p>
<p>Both centaurs also donned strange things on their upper torso like Logan did. The other Clydesdale wore something that was the color of Virgil’s own fur, and it draped over his broad shoulders like a wet leaf would, but bigger. He also donned what looked like an upside down nest upon his head. What a strange choice.</p>
<p>The Appaloosa had an inner wear the color of snow, and the outer the color of freshly exposed bark, but it looked soft like wool. This one also had something the color of a wildflower tied around his neck, and a not-bird perched in front of his eyes. Truly, this was kind of spooky!</p>
<p>“Little one, this is Janus and Emile. They are my herd.” Logan had noticed Virgil’s curious looks towards the other too, and thought an introduction was in order. As he gestured to each centaur respectively, Janus gave a dramatic bow, and Emile gave a happy smile and wave. Virgil couldn’t help but giggle at Janus’s bow and wave back at Emile, their demeanors were very gentle and caring. After a moment, Janus trotted over to a patch of softer grass and beckoned the little one over as he laid down to get closer to height level with Virgil.</p>
<p>“If it’s okay, little shadowling, I’d like to look over all your legs to make sure that you are okay?” Virgil watched as the other two centaurs followed Janus and made a bit of a circle in the grass, though they remained standing. Virgil wobbled into the middle of the circle, and was grateful when Emile provided his hand and side to lean on as Janus looked over each his shaky legs, one by one.</p>
<p>Janus seemed to take careful notes when he would slowly stretch out a leg, watching for Virgil’s wincing or whimpering in discomfort. Thankfully, aside from being sore, the child’s legs seemed okay. As for Virgil’s hooves, though? They would probably need Patton or Thomas to look over the poor kid’s hooves to make sure that journey didn’t leave the little one’s hooves in an uncomfortable state.</p>
<p>“Logan, Emile, will one of you fetch Patton or Thomas? Other than letting them finally meet this little one, I think we might need a hoof checkup, just to be safe.” Janus was calm, rubbing at one of Virgil’s front ankles soothingly.</p>
<p>“Who is Patton? Who is Thomas??” Virgil asked worriedly as he watched Logan trot toward one of the human dens. Janus sensed the little colt’s nervousness and gently guided the light colt into his arms, hugging the anxious child in hopes of soothing Virgil.</p>
<p>“Thomas and Patton are human brothers who run this sanctuary. They're very nice men who saved Logan and Janus from a black-market trade, and healed me from being almost too hurt to walk. They're humans.” Though Virgil didn’t quite understand what most of Emile meant, he understood one thing. <em>Humans</em>.</p>
<p>His first thought was that he really was in danger, and he needed to get out. His little heart couldn’t help but begin pounding. His whole life he’d been taught that all humans would kill him if they got their hands on him but.. looking at these full grown centaurs, big and healthy, his mind supplied that they’d been <em>saved</em> by these humans. So.. <em>these</em> humans couldn’t be all bad, right?</p>
<p>Janus made a move to stand up, and Virgil whined as he was let go, not wanting the comfort to leave. Next thing he knew, the odd cover that Janus had been wearing was draped over his shoulders. It was sort of heavy, and enveloped him like a hug would, and he felt.. safe? He pulled at the soft material, and held it tight around him before staring up at Janus in surprise.</p>
<p>“If you get too scared, little one, you can just hide in this okay? I know humans can be scary, but I promise Thomas and Patton are both one of the nice ones. They’d defend you with their lives, y’know?” Janus gently carded through the little colts head of curly coal black hair.</p>
<p>Glancing over in the direction of where Logan had walked to, he saw Logan returning with two humans walking alongside him, one of which was holding his hand and talking animatedly to Logan, while the other human looked amused.</p>
<p>Unable to help being nervous, Virgil found himself backing up in between Janus’s tall Clydesdale’s legs, if only to stop half way and resist hiding completely underneath Janus. As the trio grew closer, Emile gave the quieter human a pat on the back, while also giving a wave to the animated one. Once close enough, Logan calmly introduced the humans.</p>
<p>Thomas was the taller, quieter human, who wore a rose red top material with some sky blue leg covers. Patton was the slightly shorter, more animated human, who wore sky blue material both on top and on his legs, in a weird meshed design Virgil had no concept of. Patton’s skin was also covered in sun-stars and also wore a big not-bird perched on his nose too.</p>
<p>Shyly, Virgil managed a wave to the two humans, calming slightly when they waved back. He hid a bit in the dark material as Patton walked toward him and Janus. He squeezed his eyes shut as he waits for the human to touch his hoof or his arm or something, but the touch never comes. Instead, he opens his eyes and sees Patton sitting down in the grass in front of him, not too close but not too far. The human is just calmly looking at him with a comforting smile. In this position, Patton is under eye level with Virgil, vulnerable and open. He slowly opens his arms and simply waits to see what Virgil does in reaction.</p>
<p>Virgil glanced up at Janus, then Logan, and Emile, waiting for three nods of approval before he dares to shuffle forward a little. He doesn’t want to sit down in front of Patton, so he doesn’t, and Patton doesn’t seem mad at all with Virgil’s choice. Virgil watches as the three other centaurs shuffle their way around before lying in the grass, Thomas leaning against Emile at a small distance. In the end, Virgil is the only one standing, though is soothed by the relaxed nature of the other centaurs.</p>
<p>“So, little guy! What’s your name?” Patton asks gently, but warmly, not pushing at all. Virgil stares at Patton for a long moment before murmuring his name. “..Virgil…”</p>
<p>Patton’s smile widens slightly, and he reaches one hand out slowly, letting Virgil see it as it stops in between them. Virgil stares at his hand before shakily reaching his out and lightly placing it over Patton’s. Patton moves their hands up and down twice before stopping, just letting their contact sit and stay.</p>
<p>“It’s very nice to meet you, Virgil.” Patton says, and its soothing. The tone Patton uses strikes a nerve in Virgil. Patton sounds just like his mother used to when he speaks like that.</p>
<p>He can’t help the tears that spring to his eyes, his arms curling back up to his chest as he hiccups. Patton looks alarmed, wondering if Virgil had finally become overwhelmed with the contact. The other centaurs look just as alarmed though, which was a bit more concerning. Each adult watched as the vulnerable human and colt interacted, bracing for a possible out lash as the colt began crying again.</p>
<p>Patton gently cooed to the small colt, hands outreached to offer possible comfort because he just couldn’t bare the little one crying. In a sudden movement that caused all of the adults to tense, Virgil pitched forward into Patton’s open arms, wrapping his smaller arms around Patton’s neck and hiding his face against Patton’s chest like a scared child would, his lower body having curled up while collapsing so limbs did not get hurt or hurt anyone.</p>
<p>Patton soothes and comforts Virgil, soothing a hand through Virgil’s hair and rubbing his back, and generally just holding the small colt in a protective embrace. This just serves to make Virgil cry more, because Patton feels almost like <em>home</em>, and everything has been so <em>scary</em>, and he just wants to be held by momma or poppa again. But <em>this?</em> Being held by Patton? It’s <em>enough</em>. It’s more than enough, because deep down Virgil knows he’s never gonna see momma or poppa again.</p>
<p>It takes a long while before Virgil finally calms down, curling up his arms and hiding in Patton’s embrace, sniffling but now mostly calm. Patton wants to ask what brought this on, he knows he’ll have to do it eventually, but for right now? Patton was content to comfort this little one until the end of time if that's how long it would take to make Virgil feel safe again.</p>
<p>It was going to take a few years, sure. But one day Virgil would call him ‘Dad’ and it wouldn’t be on accident. One day Virgil would be full grown and still have times where he runs and hides against Patton’s back or chest for comfort when a storm rolls in or if a plastic bag spooks him. One day Virgil would finally be comfortable enough to run around the sanctuary with Roman and laugh out loud and play around with other colts his age. One day Virgil would pick up makeup and never want to put it down, and be snarky and witty and still sweet at the same time. One day, Virgil would find himself.</p>
<p>Until then, Patton was plenty on board with letting this tiny little colt hide in his arms and accept his parental love, and let Virgil follow him around to help with chores. Virgil would take a while to adjust, sure, but he eventually would, Patton was sure of it.</p>
<p>Even if it took forever, eventually, Virgil would be <em>okay</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Let me know what you think! I'm hoping to write another chapter to introduce everyone else, but I don't know when that will be. Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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